Small recesses neatly cut in a bank, one for each
fireplace, are much used, when the fuel is dry and well prepared. A more
elaborate plan is to excavate a shallow saucer-like hole in the ground, a
foot or eighteen inches in diameter, and kneading the soil so excavated
into a circular wall, with a doorway in the windward side: the upper
surface is curved, so as to leave three pointed turrets, upon which the
cooking-vessel rests, as in the sketch. Thus the wind enters at the
doorway, and the flames issue through the curved depressions at the top,
and lick round the cooking-vessel placed above. The wall is sometimes
built of stones.
Trenches and Holes.--In cooking for a large party with a small supply of
fuel, either dig a narrow trench, above which all the pots and kettles
may stand in a row, and in which the fire is made--the mouth being open
to the wind, and a small chimney built at the other end;--or else dig a
round hole, one foot deep, and place the pots in a ring on its edge, half
resting on the earth, and half overlapping the hole. A space will remain
in the middle of them, and through this the fire must be fed.
Esquimaux Lamp.--The cooking of the Esquimaux is wholly effected by stone
lamps, with wicks made of moss, which are so carefully arranged that the
flame gives little or no smoke. Their lamps vary in size from one foot
and a half long to six inches.
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